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Armenian War
The Armenian War was a civil and ethnic war that occured throughout the 20th Century in and around what is now known as the Republic of Armenia. It pitted the ethnic Armenian people against the Ottoman Empire in a struggle for self-rule amongst the historically and culturally separate Armenians, while the Ottomans tried to keep their empire intact. The war was a result of historical tensions between Armenia and Turkey, which frequently reached their boiling points in the form of ethnic cleansing and sporadic warfare. In reality, the Armenian War was less of an actual "war", and more of a general collection of loosely united conflicts a la the Cold War of reality. The results of the war for the Turks included political humiliation and turmoil at home, as well as military defeat by insurgency forces. In addition to political independence for the Armenians, the war had an impact of heightening national and cultural identity between the before-separated peoples, as well as influencing similar rebellions amongst other Turkish-owned states (Syria, Egypt, etc.) Millions died and even more were displaced as a result of the conflict and its many humanitarian disasters, forming a large majority of the Armenian Diaspora in Europe - particularly in France, where Armenians have settled since 1894 and have formed the largest Armenian Diasporic community in the world. However, Armenians have also settled in America, England, Persia, Russia, and Poland over the course of the 20th century. Revolution (1976-1977) Public support for the ASF was at an all-time high as Mikael Serovian rallied the Armenians around a nationalistic Greater Armenian ideal in January 1977. He gathered a small contingent of rebels at Nor Yerzenka - a small farming town just north of Yerevan. After another month of planning, the ASF began its first attack: a brutal strike at a convoy heading north from Yerevan. The attack was a tremendous success, catapulting the Armenians into the limelight and instigating the civil war that would follow. The convoy attack was also an indicator of Turkish weakness - the attack managed to kill almost fifteen soldiers while rebels made off with thousands of liras of military materiel. Several more months of combat undertaken by both sides in various parts of the country continued to rage as the Armenians organized their individual rebel cells under the ASF's command. Serovian would later leave the country on a mission to secure an arms column from Poland. The deal was semi-successful, as the majority of the deal went through due to faulty management. However, the ties established between the two nations would later end up with a fruitful industrial and modernization assistance program alongside a blossoming political alliance. Yet this deal would later be overshadowed when Mikael Serovian was caught upon entering the country and later executed. The same fate befell almost all of the original ASF members as they were executed after Nor Yerzenka's loss. Only Hasmik Assanian escaped, sneaking out from Turkish patrols under the cover of darkness. In response, the citizens of Yerevan and other Armenian cities began to protest and riot, and the Yerevan Massacre was performed after a Young Turk hardliner instigated an Armenian-on-Turk shooting during a Yerevan protest to justify it. The ASF was quickly scattered into dozens of individual cells around the Armenian state, with the majority of Nor Yerzenka's command relocated to the remote town of Hadrut in the mountains of the Nagorno Karabakh. From there, Assanian took control directly after Serovian's death and began a massive propaganda warfare campaign dedicated to galvanizing the Armenian populace into action. Radio stations, graffiti, and illicit newspapers were all created covertly (and often with stolen equipment) to notifiy the Armenians of their duty to the Fatherland. In this case, parallels were drawn to the Fedayeen of pre-war Armenia - Assanian quickly became idolized amongst the Armenians as a revolutionary figure like Arabo. Popular nationalism played a key role in the conflict, as the Armenian Revolution was seen as the final battle in the eighty-year-long Armenian War. Assanian's campaign proved highly effective at publicizing the Armenians' plight, and envoys were dispatched to a number of nations to garner international support to end the conflict faster - namely Poland and Persia. Armenian headquarters, meanwhile, were being connected with a system of radio relays and messengers spanning the whole country. A vast underground network was developed and maintained by radio professionals taken in by the ASF. The creation of this allowed a national command centered in Hadrut to coordinate attacks and strengthen Armenian forces. Armies of militiamen formed in poorly-policed border regions like Nakhchivan and the Nagorno-Karabakh, and began their fight to force Ottoman Gendarmes out and allow for more Armenians to join their forces. Meanwhile, weapons stolen from Turkish logistical units woud up in their hands - this created a very rapidly armed revolt that soon became mobilized. Foreign support from Persia also began training Armenian militiamen in the operation of equipment like stolen tanks and artillery pieces. A small, organized army had begun to form in the Nagnorno-Karabakh, which would later become the ADF's core members after the war was over. Small skirmishes rapidly increased in size, as Armenia's revolution gained steam by early April. By mid-April, the Turkish military had lost most of its Armenian conscripts to the revolutionary cause. Because of the government policy of ethnic segregation in military units, "All-Armenian" battalions were particularly at risk of infiltration by radical Armenian nationalists. These battalions managed to escape with the majority of the military equipment used by the Armenian military during and after the war. Category:Conflicts Category:Middle East Category:Rebellions Category:Armenia